chisel

chisel is an experimental project aiming to recreate the functionality of FileOptimizer and its encoders in a single, cross‑platform monolithic binary.
It focuses on lossless recompression of various file formats by integrating multiple specialized encoders.

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Requirements

The project builds all its dependencies automatically via Git submodules. You only need a C++23 build toolchain and basic build tools.

• All Platforms:
• git (with LFS support: run git lfs install once)
• cmake (≥ 3.20)
• ninja (recommended)
• Linux:
• A modern C++23 compiler (GCC ≥ 11 or Clang ≥ 14)
• build-essential, pkg-config
• autoconf, automake, libtool, m4, nasm, yasm (required by some submodules)
• macOS:
• Xcode Command Line Tools (Clang with C++23 support)
• pkg-config
• autoconf, automake, libtool, nasm, yasm (required by some submodules)
• Windows:
• Visual Studio 2022 (with MSVC C++23 toolchain)

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Installing dependencies

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu)

This command installs only the build tools. All libraries are submodules.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential cmake ninja-build help2man pkg-config git \
autoconf automake libtool m4 nasm yasm ccache

macOS (Homebrew)

brew update
brew install cmake ninja pkg-config git autoconf help2man automake libtool nasm yasm

Windows

Ensure you have installed Visual Studio 2022 (with the "Desktop development with C++" workload) and Git. No other package managers are required.

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Building chisel

Clone the repository and initialize all submodules:

  git clone https://github.com/Snesnopic/chisel.git
  cd chisel
  git lfs install
  git lfs pull
  git submodule update --init --recursive

Configure and build with CMake (Linux / macOS):

mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -G "Ninja" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --config Release

Configure and build with CMake (Windows):

mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build . --config Release

Installing (Optional)

After building the project, you can install the chisel executable and its documentation (manpage) onto your system by running:

sudo cmake --install . --prefix /usr/local

Usage

./chisel <file-or-directory>... [options]

Arguments:

• inputs... One or more files or directories to process. Use - to read from stdin (standard input).

Options:

• -h, --help Show the help message and exit.

• --version Display program version information and exit.

• -o, --output <PATH> Write optimized files to PATH instead of modifying them in-place. If the input is stdin (-), PATH must be a file. Otherwise, PATH must be a directory.

• --report <FILE> Export a final CSV report to the specified file.

• -r, --recursive Recursively scan input folders.

• -q, --quiet Suppress non-error console output (progress bar, results).

• --dry-run Use chisel without replacing original files.

• --no-meta Don't preserve files metadata. (Metadata is preserved by default).

• --verify-checksums Verify raw checksums before replacing files.

• --threads <N> Number of worker threads to use (default: half of available cores).

• --log-level <LEVEL> Set logging verbosity (ERROR, WARNING, INFO, DEBUG, NONE). Default is ERROR.

• --log-file <FILE> Write logs to the specified file (default: no file logging).

• --include <PATTERN> Process only files matching regex PATTERN. (Can be used multiple times).

• --exclude <PATTERN> Do not process files matching regex PATTERN. (Can be used multiple times).

• --mode <MODE> Select how multiple encoders are applied to a file (pipe or parallel). pipe (default): Encoders are chained; output of one is input to the next. parallel: All encoders run on the original file; the smallest result is chosen.

• --regenerate-magic Re-install the libmagic file-detection database. (Linux and macOS)

Examples:

• ./chisel file.jpg dir/ --recursive --threads 4
• ./chisel archive.zip
• ./chisel dir/ --report report.csv
• cat file.png | ./chisel - -o out.png
• cat file.png | ./chisel - > out.png

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Supported formats

Category	Format	MIME	Extensions	Library/Libraries
Images	JPEG	image/jpeg, image/jpg	.jpg, .jpeg	mozjpeg
Images	GIF	image/gif	.gif	gifsicle, flexigif
Images	JPEG XL	image/jxl	.jxl	libjxl
Images	WebP	image/webp, image/x-webp	.webp	libwebp
Images	PNG	image/png	.png	zlib/Deflate, zopflipng
Images	TIFF	image/tiff, image/tiff-fx	.tif, .tiff	libtiff
Images	TrueVision TGA	image/x-tga, image/tga	.tga	stb
Images	Windows Bitmap	image/bmp, image/x-ms-bmp	.bmp, .dib	bmplib
Images	Portable Anymap	image/x-portable-anymap, image/x-portable-pixmap	.pnm, .ppm, .pgm	stb (read), internal (write)
Images	OpenRaster	image/openraster	.ora	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Documents	PDF	application/pdf	.pdf	qpdf
Documents	Microsoft Office OOXML	docx: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document xlsx: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet pptx: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation, application/vnd.ms-powerpoint	.docx, .xlsx, .pptx	—
Documents	OpenDocument	odt: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text ods: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet odp: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.presentation odg: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.graphics odf: application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.formula	.odt, .ods, .odp, .odg, .odf	—
Documents	EPUB	application/epub+zip	.epub	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Documents	Comic Book	CBZ: application/vnd.comicbook+zip CBT: application/vnd.comicbook+tar	.cbz, .cbt	libarchive
Documents	XPS	application/vnd.ms-xpsdocument, application/oxps	.xps, .oxps	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Documents	DWFX	model/vnd.dwfx+xps	.dwfx	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Audio	FLAC	audio/flac, audio/x-flac	.flac	libFLAC, TagLib
Audio	Ogg (FLAC stream)	audio/ogg, audio/oga	.ogg, .oga	libFLAC, libogg
Audio	Ogg Vorbis/Opus (Cover Art only)	audio/ogg, audio/vorbis, audio/opus	.ogg, .opus	TagLib (covers)
Audio	MP3 (Cover Art only)	audio/mpeg	.mp3	TagLib (covers)
Audio	M4A/MP4 (Cover Art only)	audio/mp4, audio/x-m4a, video/mp4	.m4a, .mp4, .m4b	TagLib (covers)
Audio	WAV (Cover Art only)	audio/wav, audio/x-wav	.wav	TagLib (covers)
Audio	AIFF (Cover Art only)	audio/x-aiff, audio/aiff	.aif, .aiff, .aifc	TagLib (covers)
Audio	Monkey's Audio	audio/ape, audio/x-ape	.ape	MACLib, TagLib
Audio	WavPack	audio/x-wavpack, audio/x-wavpack-correction	.wv, .wvp, .wvc	wavpack
Databases	SQLite	application/vnd.sqlite3, application/x-sqlite3	.sqlite, .db	sqlite3
Archives	Zip	application/zip, application/x-zip-compressed	.zip	libarchive
Archives	7z	application/x-7z-compressed	.7z	libarchive
Archives	Tar	application/x-tar	.tar	libarchive
Archives	GZip	application/gzip	.gz	libarchive
Archives	BZip2	application/x-bzip2	.bz2	libarchive
Archives	Xz	application/x-xz	.xz	libarchive
Archives	ISO	application/x-iso9660-image	.iso	libarchive
Archives	CPIO	application/x-cpio	.cpio	libarchive
Archives	LZMA	application/x-lzma	.lzma	libarchive
Archives	AR (Static Lib)	application/x-archive	.a, .ar, .lib	libarchive
Archives	Zstandard	application/zstd, application/x-zstd	.zst, .tzst, .tar.zst	libarchive
Archives	CAB	application/vnd.ms-cab-compressed	.cab	libarchive
Archives	WIM	application/x-ms-wim	.wim	libarchive
Archives	JAR	application/java-archive	.jar	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Archives	XPI	application/x-xpinstall	.xpi	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Archives	APK	application/vnd.android.package-archive	.apk	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Documents	3MF (3D)	application/vnd.ms-package	.3mf	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Documents	KMZ (Google Earth)	application/vnd.google-earth.kmz	.kmz	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Archives	VSIX / NuGet	application/zip	.vsix, .nupkg	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Archives	Java EE	application/java-archive	.war, .ear	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Archives	Android Bundle	application/vnd.android.package-archive	.aab	libarchive (ZIP-based)
Scientific	MSEED	application/vnd.fdsn.mseed	.mseed	libmseed